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2020 Racines, Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, California, USA

  • Red
  • Dry
  • Medium Bodied
  • Pinot Noir
Ready - youthful (Drink 2023 - 2031)
Jancis Robinson MW
17/20
Antonio Galloni
90/100
Clive Pursehouse
94/100
Product: 20208049809

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2020 Racines, Sanford & Benedict Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills, California, USA

Description

Sanford & Benedict vineyard is the Sta Rita Hills' highest calling for Pinot Noir grapes. Made from three parcels within the site, including some own-rooted vines from 1971. This Pinot Noir is indelibly marked by pungent and stirring floral aromatics accented by frankincense, leather and smoke. The palate shows a generosity of fruit, but a significant amount of the whole cluster gives this wine savoury edges. Notes of crushed basalt, thyme and wild sumac envelop a core of blue and red fruits. Clove, five-star anise and a hint of cassia bark accompany this wine through its finish, measured in 5-minute intervals.

Drink 2023 - 2035

Clive Pursehouse, Decanter.com (August 2023)

Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2020
Alcohol % 13%
Maturity Ready - youthful (2023 - 2031)
Grape List Pinot Noir
Body Medium Bodied
Producer Racines Wines

Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW 17/20

Deep clay on gravels. 60% from the original dry-farmed plantings that date to the early 1970s. Tasted from a wax-sealed magnum.

Transparent garnet. Rich and floral. Very aromatic, lifted and transparent. Firm finish.

Drink 2024 - 2035
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (Aug 2023)
Antonio Galloni 90/100

The 2020 Pinot Noir Sanford & Benedict Vineyard is awkward. The strong stem influence that marks these Pinots is not as pronounced from a flavour perspective, but the mid-palate is hollow and lacking in the suppleness that is such a signature of S&B. Perhaps that will come in time. Dark cherry, plum, lavender, spice and dried herbs emerge, but with great reticence.

Drink 2023 - 2028
Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (Aug 2022)
Clive Pursehouse 94/100

Sanford & Benedict vineyard is the Sta Rita Hills' highest calling for Pinot Noir grapes. Made from three parcels within the site, including some own-rooted vines from 1971. This Pinot Noir is indelibly marked by pungent and stirring floral aromatics accented by frankincense, leather and smoke. The palate shows a generosity of fruit, but a significant amount of the whole cluster gives this wine savoury edges. Notes of crushed basalt, thyme and wild sumac envelop a core of blue and red fruits. Clove, five-star anise and a hint of cassia bark accompany this wine through its finish, measured in 5-minute intervals.

Drink 2023 - 2035
Clive Pursehouse, Decanter.com (Aug 2023)

About this wine

Sta. Rita Hills

Sta. Rita Hills

Sta. Rita Hills is one of California’s most compelling cool-climate regions, celebrated for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which are renowned for remarkable precision and poise. Nestled between the Purisima and Santa Rosa Hills, its east–west valleys funnel ocean breezes and fog inland, creating a long, temperate growing season that shapes wines of freshness, structure and unmistakable character.

Find out more

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